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Tony Blair returns as Trump's "proconsul" for Gaza: peace or dirty business?
Tony Blair, the former British prime minister who has long been described as the “man with seven lives,” is ready for his next incarnation: that of Donald Trump’s “proconsul” for Gaza. In the latest proposal for the post-war Gaza Strip, Blair’s name is the only one written “in black and white,” as part of the committee that will lead the transition. He is not the “governor of Gaza,” as was rumored months ago, but his presence in the document guarantees a key role in determining the future of the territory.
Blair has a long history with the Middle East, but not always with positive notes. Shortly after leaving Downing Street in 2007, he took up the post of UN special envoy for the Middle East. At the time, 54, he did not want to retreat from the political scene. But his appointment caused strong controversy: Blair had lost his reputation in Britain after he had led the country into the Second Gulf War (2003) with false excuses about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Such baggage was not the "best recommendation" for a mediator in the Middle East.
As special envoy, he stayed until 2015, with a mandate that for many was empty: meetings in luxury hotels and no substantial achievements. However, this period served to build contacts with the Arab elite, which they would turn into political and financial capital with the creation of the Tony Blair Institute, a consultancy often called the “McKinsey of governments”. His clients? From the wealthy emirates of the Gulf, to authoritarian regimes such as Al-Sisi’s Egypt and the autocracies of Central Asia. Criticism of his ties to repressive regimes was numerous, but Blair never stopped at the smell of money. With conferences, books, consultancy and lucrative contracts, he quickly became a multimillionaire.
A few months ago, it was revealed that the Blair Institute, in collaboration with the US administration and Israeli businessmen, was working on a project called the “Gaza Riviera”: a fantastic plan to transform the Strip into a “new Dubai” with artificial islands off the coast. After the media furor, the institute took steps back, denying that the project was aimed at displacing Palestinians.
However, Blair's visions seem to have convinced Trump, who has put the former British prime minister at the center of a plan to rebuild Gaza. And it should come as no surprise that a former Labour leader is working closely with a right-wing populist president. Blair has always been a "post-ideological" politician: for him, it doesn't matter whether a solution is right-wing or left-wing, as long as it works.
In Britain, Blair had spent a decade as “unforgivable”: hated by the right and despised by the left, a symbol of political cynicism and worn-out globalism. But in recent years, a process of rehabilitation began: in the desert of Labour’s ideas, his figure regained value, to the point of becoming an invisible advisor to Keir Starmer’s government. The young people of his generation have returned to the scene, restoring “Blairism” within Labour.
For Blair, behind-the-scenes roles are not enough. He seeks protagonism again. And today, Gaza, through Trump, offers him the golden opportunity to be at the center of the game again. Taken from "Corriere della Sera", adapted by "Pamphlet"
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